President called Modi to reject ‘baseless’ media reports October 18, 2018 08:47 am

President Maithripala Sirisena telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to “categorically” reject media reports about him alluding to the involvement of India in an alleged plot to assassinate the president and a former defence secretary, the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

The statement by the PMO said that the president apprised the Indian leadership of the urgent steps that were taken to “reject” these “baseless” reports.

“He mentioned that the mischievous and malafide reports were utterly baseless and false, and seemed to create misunderstanding between the two leaders as well as damage the cordial relations between the two friendly neighbours,” said the statement.

In the light of the recent reports that had emerged quoting the Sri Lankan president as having told his cabinet during a meeting that there was a plot by the Indian intelligence wing to assassinate him, the president met with the high commissioner of India to Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo also issued a statement emphasising the importance of the relations between Sri Lanka and India and expressed “disappointment” over the nature of the “distorted” and “erroneous” reports that had emerged.

“It is disappointing therefore that matters of this nature have become the subject of distorted and erroneous media reports taking the president’s remarks out of context, which has given rise to further media and social media speculation and the spread of unfounded fear among the public,” said Sri Lanka’s MFA statement.

PM Modi appreciated the prompt steps taken by the president and his government to firmly refute the malicious reports by publicly clarifying the matters.

“The president also stated that he regards the prime minister as a true friend of Sri Lanka, as also a close personal friend. He stressed that he greatly valued the mutually beneficial ties between India and Sri Lanka, and remained steadfast to work with the prime minister for further strengthening them,” the PMO statement said.

He also reiterated India’s emphasis on ‘neighbourhood first’ policy and the priority the government of India and he personally attach to developing even stronger all-round cooperation between the two countries.